Iraq forces attack IS outpost ahead of drive up Euphrates

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces attacked a desert outpost of the Islamic State group near the Syrian border yesterday in preparation for a drive up the Euphrates Valley towards the frontier, commanders said.

The assault targeted the former mining town of Akashat, in mainly Sunni Arab Anbar province some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the jihadists' border bastion of Al-Qaim.

Al-Qaim and the Euphrates towns of Rawa and Anna downstream form just one of two enclaves still held by IS in Iraq after a string of battlefield defeats this year.

"The army, the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation force) and the border guard launched a major operation to liberate Akasha t... and secure the border to its north," said the head of Joint Operations Command, General Abdelamir Yarallah.

The Hashed al-Shaabi are a paramilitary force largely composed of Iran-trained Shiite militias but also including some fighters recruited from Sunni tribes.

Iraqi commanders estimate there are no more than 300 civilian families left in Akashat, a former railhead that was once a major source of phosphate production.

Imed Meshaal, mayor of Rutba, a desert town further south recaptured from IS last year, told AFP the jihadists had turned the area into a major hub for arms caches, training camps and command centres.